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I saw my first solar eclipse 18 years ago at Stanford. I remember how cool it was with all the professors and staff and students. Some had pinhole viewers, others had special equipment but we all stood around watching it.

Today, we weren’t at Stanford but the neighborhood all came together and met to watch the eclipse. I was all set up with a pinhole in a postcard — I finally got the family to come out and watch, too. Then the neighbors came out and we were looking at it. Our neighbor, Jerry, brought out his welding helmet and we watched it through that (evidently, if you have it set to at least shade 13, it’s safe).

Pretty soon, other cars were stopping and joining us. Jerry brought out Doritos and suddenly, it’s a party.

My favorite part was when the redwood trees started acting as their own pinhole viewers. Love these patterns.